AP Psychology

LEARNING

PLEASE GO TO SOCRATIVE AND COMPLETE THE QUIZ (USE YOUR NOTES FROM YESTERDAY).

EXAM ON M/T—MC, SHORT ANSWER, T/F

Definition of learning

• Learning refers to the relatively permanent change in a subject’s behavior to a given situation brought about by his or her repeated experiences in that situation, provided that the behavior change cannot be explained on the basis of maturation or temporary states of the subject (for example, fatigue, drugs, etc.)

Overview: Topics on Learning

Definitions Classical conditioning Operant conditioning Biological and cognitive

components of learning Observational learning

What do we mean by “learning”?

Learning is the process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information or behaviors.

1. when we learn to predict events we already like or don’t like by noticing other events or sensations that happen first.

2. when our actions have consequences.

3. when we watch what other people do.

1. when two stimuli (events or sensations) tend to occur together or in sequence.

2. when actions become associated with pleasant or aversive results.

3. when two pieces of information are linked.

How does learning happen other than through language/words?

We learn from experience:

We learn by association:

Associative and Cognitive Learning

Classical conditioning:

learning to link two stimuli in a way that helps us anticipate an event to which

we have a reaction

Operant conditioning:

changing behavior choices

in response to consequences

Cognitive learning: acquiring new behaviors and information through

observation and information, rather than by direct experience

Associative Learning

• Classical and operant video general overview

– Why is it that humans react to stimuli with certain behaviors?

– Can behaviors change in response to consequences?

• Peggy Andover explains how the brain can associate unrelated stimuli and responses, proved by Ivan Pavlov's famous 1890 experiments, and how reinforcement and punishment can result in changed behavior.

Classical conditioning: Operant conditioning:

Operant and Classical Conditioning are Different Forms of Associative Learning

involves reflexive, automatic reactions such as fear or craving

these reactions to unconditioned stimuli (US) become associated with neutral (thenconditioned) stimuli

involves operant behavior: behaviors which “operate” on the environment

these behaviors become associated with consequences which punish (decrease) or reinforce (increase) the operant behavior

There is a contrast in the process of conditioning.

The experimental (neutral) stimulus repeatedly precedes the respondent behavior, and eventually triggers that behavior.

The experimental (consequence) stimulus repeatedly follows the operant behavior, and eventually punishes or reinforces that behavior.

How it works: after repeated exposure to two stimuli occurring in sequence, we associate those stimuli with each other. Result: our natural response to one stimulus now can be triggered by the new, predictive stimulus.

Associative Learning Classical Conditioning

Here, our response to thunder becomes associated with lightning.

Stimulus 1: See lightning

Stimulus 2: Hear thunder

After RepetitionStimulus: See lightningResponse: Cover ears to avoid sound

• Classical conditioning example

• Experimenting with children is always fun!

Child associates his “response” (behavior) with consequences.Child learns to repeat behaviors (saying “please”) which were followed by desirable results (cookie).Child learns to avoid behaviors (yelling “gimme!”) which were followed by undesirable results (scolding or loss of dessert).

Associative Learning: Operant Conditioning

• Operant conditioning example

• Video to teach the theory of behavior modification when looking specifically at altering consequences. This clip specifically examines positive reinforcement.

Learning Theories

What are the three learning theories discussed so far?

Learning Theories

What are the three learning theories discussed so far?

Classical Conditioning

Operant Conditioning

Cognitive Learning

Learning Theories

What are the three learning theories discussed so far?Who is associated with classical conditioning? With operant conditioning?

Classical Conditioning

Operant Conditioning

Ivan Pavlov’s Discovery

While studying salivation in dogs, Ivan Pavlov found that salivation from eating food was eventually triggered by what should have been neutral stimuli such as:

just seeing the food. seeing the dish. seeing the person who

brought the food. just hearing that person’s

footsteps.

Before Conditioning

No response

Neutral stimulus

(NS)

Neutral stimulus: a stimulus which does not trigger a response

Unconditioned response (UR):

dog salivatesUnconditioned stimulus (US):

yummy dog food

Before Conditioning Unconditioned stimulus and response:

a stimulus which triggers a response naturally, before/without any conditioning

Unconditioned response (UR):

dog salivates

Neutral stimulus

(NS)Unconditioned

stimulus (US)

During ConditioningThe bell/tone (N.S.) is repeatedly presented with

the food (U.S.).

Conditioned response:

dog salivates

After Conditioning

Conditioned (formerly neutral)stimulus

The dog begins to salivate upon hearing the tone (neutral stimulus becomes conditioned stimulus).

Did you follow the changes?The UR and the CR are the same response, triggered by different events.

The difference is whether conditioning was necessary for the response to happen.

The NS and the CS are the same stimulus.

The difference is whether the stimulus triggers the conditioned response.

Find the US, UR, NS, CS, CR in the following:

Find the US, UR, NS, CS, CR in the following:

Your romantic partner always uses the same shampoo. Soon, the smell of that shampoo makes you feel happy.

The door to your house squeaks loudly when you open it. Soon, your dog begins wagging its tail when the door squeaks.

The nurse says, “This won’t hurt a bit,” just before stabbing you with a needle. The next time you hear “This won’t hurt,” you cringe in fear.

You have a meal at a fast food restaurant that causes food poisoning. The next time you see a sign for that restaurant, you feel nauseated.

Find the US, UR, NS, CS, CR in the following:

Your romantic partner always uses the same shampoo. Soon, the smell of that shampoo makes you feel happy.

Before conditioning: The SHAMPOO SMELL is the NS. The ROMANTIC PARTNER is the US and HAPPY is the UR.

After conditioning: SHAMPOO SMELL is the CS and HAPPY is the CR.

John B. Watson and Classical Conditioning: Playing with Fear 9-month-old Little Albert was not afraid of rats. John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner then clanged a

steel bar every time a rat was presented to Albert. Albert acquired a fear of rats, and generalized this fear

to other soft and furry things.

Watson prided himself in his ability to shape people’s emotions. He later went into advertising.

How it works: An act of chosen behavior (a “response”) is followed by a reward or punitive feedback from the environment. Results:Reinforced behavior is more likely to be tried again. Punished behavior is less likely to be chosen in the future.

Operant Conditioning

Response: balancing a ball

Consequence: receiving food

Behavior strengthened

Operant conditioning involves adjusting to the consequences of our behaviors. Examples:We may smile more at work after this repeatedly gets us bigger tips.We learn how to ride a bike using the strategies that don’t make us crash.

Reinforcement

Reinforcement: feedback from the environment that makes a behavior more likely to be done again. Positive +

reinforcement: the reward is adding something desirable

Negative - reinforcement: the reward is ending something unpleasant

For the meerkat, this warm light is desirable.

This meerkat has just completed a task out in the cold

Welcome!

• Today we are finishing up the discussion on Learning—I’ll go through the rest of the presentation fairly quickly, so let me know if you have questions.

• Then we’ll take the Unit 5, Chapter 8 exam. You may use your notes on this multiple choice, short answer exam.

Shaping BehaviorReinforcing Successive ApproximationsShaping: guiding a creature toward the behavior by reward behavior that comes closer and closer to the desired behavior.

Shaping the teacher: Students could smile and nod more when the instructor moves left, until the instructor stays pinned to the left wall.

A cycle of mutual reinforcement

28

Children who have a temper tantrum when they are frustrated may get positively reinforced for this behavior when parents occasionally respond by giving in to a child’s demands.

Result: stronger, more frequent tantrums

Parents who occasionally give in to tantrums may get negatively reinforced when the child responds by ending the tantrum.

Result: parents giving-in behavior is strengthened (giving in sooner and more often)

A Human Talent: Responding to Delayed Reinforcers

Dogs learn from immediate reinforcement; a treat five minutes after a trick won’t reinforce the trick.

Humans have the ability to link a consequence to a behavior even if they aren’t linked sequentially in time.

A piece of paper (paycheck) can be a delayed reinforcer, paid a month later, if we link it to our performance.

Delaying gratification, a skill related to impulse control, enables longer-term goal setting.

How often should we reinforce?

Do we need to give a reward every single time? Or is that even best?

B.F. Skinner “schedules” to determine what worked best to establish and maintain a target behavior.

In continuous reinforcement (giving a reward after the target every single time), the subject acquires the desired behavior quickly.

In partial/intermittent reinforcement (giving rewards part of the time), the target behavior takes longer to be acquired/established but persists longer without reward.

Fixed interval schedule: Every so often

Variable interval schedule: Unpredictably often

We may schedule our reinforcements

based on an interval of time

that has gone by.

Fixed ratio schedule: Every so many behaviors

Variable ratio schedule: After an unpredictable

number of behaviors

We may plan for a certain ratio of

rewards per number of

instances of the desired behavior.

Different Schedules of Partial/Intermittent Reinforcement

Which Schedule of Reinforcement is This?Ratio or Interval? Fixed or Variable?

1. Rat gets food every third time it presses the lever2. Getting paid weekly no matter how much work is done3. Getting paid for every ten boxes you make4. Hitting a jackpot sometimes on the slot machine5. Winning sometimes on the lottery you play once a day6. Checking cell phone all day; sometimes getting a text7. Buy eight pizzas, get the next one free8. Fundraiser averages one donation for every eight houses

visited9. Kid has tantrum, parents sometimes give in10. Repeatedly checking mail until paycheck arrives

FRFIFRVRVI/VRVIFRVR

VRFI

Rapid responding near time for reinforcement

Fixed intervalRapid

responding near time for

reinforcement

Fixed interval

Results of the different schedules of reinforcement Which reinforcements produce more “responding” (more target behavior)?

Fixed interval: slow, unsustained responding If I’m only paid for my Saturday work, I’m not going to work as hard on the other days.

Variable interval: slow, consistent responding If I never know which day my lucky lottery number will pay off, I better play it every day.

Steady responding

Variable interval

Reinforcers

Effectiveness of the ratio schedules of Reinforcement Fixed ratio: high rate of

respondingBuy two drinks, get one free? I’ll buy a lot of them!

Variable ratio: high, consistent responding, even if reinforcement stops (resists extinction)If the slot machine sometimes pays, I’ll pull the lever as many times as possible because it may pay this time!

Variable ratio

Fixed ratio

Operant Effect: PunishmentPunishments have the opposite effects of reinforcement. These consequences make the target behavior less likely to occur in the future.

+ Positive Punishment

You ADD something unpleasant/aversive (ex: spank the child)

- Negative Punishment

You TAKE AWAY something pleasant/

desired (ex: no TV time, no attention)--

MINUS is the “negative” here

Positive does not mean “good” or “desirable” and negative does not mean “bad” or “undesirable.”

• Trying to understand the difference between punishers and rewards can be difficult.

• Hopefully these examples can help clarify!

When is punishment effective?

Punishment works best in natural settings when we encounter punishing consequences from actions such as reaching into a fire.

In that case, operant conditioning helps us to avoid dangers.

Punishment is less effective when we try to artificially create punishing consequences for other’s choices; Severity of punishments is not as helpful as making the punishments immediate and certain.

Punished behaviors may simply be suppressed, and restart when the punishment is over.

Instead of learning behaviors, the child may learn to discriminate among situations, and avoid those in which punishment might occur.

Instead of behaviors, the child might learn an attitude of fear or hatred, which can interfere with learning. This can generalize to a fear/hatred of all adults or many settings.

Physical punishment models aggression and control as a method of dealing with problems.

Applying operant conditioning to parentingProblems with Physical Punishment

Operant Effect: PunishmentPunishments have the opposite effects of reinforcement. These consequences make the target behavior less likely to occur in the future.

+ Positive Punishment

You ADD something unpleasant/aversive (ex: spank the child)

- Negative Punishment

You TAKE AWAY something pleasant/

desired (ex: no TV time, no attention)--

MINUS is the “negative” here

Positive does not mean “good” or “desirable” and negative does not mean “bad” or “undesirable.”

More effective forms of operant conditioning The Power of Rephrasing Positive and Negative Punishment Positive and Negative

Reinforcement “You’re playing video games

instead of practicing the piano, so I am justified in YELLING at you.”

“You’re avoiding practicing, so I’m turning off your game.”

“I will stop staring at you and bugging you as soon as I see that you are practicing.”

“After you practice, we’ll play a game!”

More effective forms of operant conditioning The Power of Rephrasing Positive punishment: “You’re

playing video games instead of practicing the piano, so I am justified in YELLING at you.”

Negative punishment: “You’re avoiding practicing, so I’m turning off your game.”

Negative reinforcement: “I will stop staring at you and bugging you as soon as I see that you are practicing.”

Positive reinforcement: “After you practice, we’ll play a game!”

Summary: Types of ConsequencesAdding stimuli Subtract stimuli Outcome

Positive + Reinforcement(You get candy)

Negative –Reinforcement(I stop yelling)

Strengthens target behavior(You do chores)

Positive + Punishment

(You get spanked)

Negative –Punishment

(No cell phone)

Reduces target behavior (cursing)

uses desirable stimuli

uses unpleasant stimuli

Summary: Types of ConsequencesAdding stimuli Subtract stimuli Outcome

Positive + Reinforcement(You get candy)

Negative –Reinforcement(I stop yelling)

Strengthens target behavior

(You take notes in class)

Positive + Punishment

(You get spanked)

Negative –Punishment

(No cell phone)

uses desirable stimuli

uses unpleasant stimuli

School: long before tablet computers, B.F. Skinner proposed machines that would reinforce students for correct responses, allowing students to improve at different rates and work on different learning goals.

Sports: athletes improve most in the shaping approach in which they are reinforced for performance that comes closer and closer to the target skill (e.g., hitting pitches that are progressively faster).

Work: some companies make pay a function of performance or company profit rather than seniority; they target more specific behaviors to reinforce.

Applications of Operant Conditioning

More Operant Conditioning ApplicationsParenting 1. Rewarding small improvements toward desired behaviors works

better than expecting complete success, and also works better than punishing problem behaviors.

2. Giving in to temper tantrums stops them in the short run but increases them in the long run.

Self-Improvement Reward yourself for steps you take toward your goals. As you establish good habits, then make your rewards more infrequent (intermittent).

If the organism is learning associations between events that it does not control, it is...

If the organism is learning associations between its behavior and the resulting events, it is...

operant conditioning

classical conditioning

Operant vs. Classical Conditioning

Summary of factors affecting

learning

Role of Biology in ConditioningOperant Conditioning

Can a monkey be trained to peck with its nose? No, but a pigeon can.

Can a pigeon be trained to dive underwater? No, but a dolphin can.

Operant conditioning encounters biological tendencies and limits that are difficult to override.

What can we most easily train a dog to do based on natural tendencies? detecting scents? climbing and balancing? putting on clothes?

Learning, Rewards, and Motivation Intrinsic motivation refers to the

desire to perform a behavior well for its own sake. The reward is internalized as a feeling of satisfaction.

Extrinsic motivation refers to doing a behavior to receive rewards from others.

Intrinsic motivation can sometimes be reduced by external rewards, and can be prevented by using continuous reinforcement.

One principle for maintaining behavior is to use as few rewards as possible, and fade the rewards over time.

What might happen if we begin to reward a behavior someone was already doing and enjoying?

Learning by Observation Can we, like the rats exploring the maze with no reward,

learn new behaviors and skills without a direct experience of conditioning?

Yes, and one of the ways we do so is by observational learning: watching what happens when other people do a behavior and learning from their experience.

Skills required: mirroring, being able to picture ourselves doing the same action, and cognition, noticing consequences and associations.

ModelingThe behavior of others serves as a model, an example of how to respond to a situation; we may try this model regardless of reinforcement.

Vicarious Conditioning

Vicarious: experienced indirectly, through others Vicarious reinforcement and punishment means

our choices are affected as we see others get consequences for their behaviors.

Observational Learning Processes

Albert Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment (1961) Kids saw adults punching an inflated doll while narrating

their aggressive behaviors such as “kick him.” These kids were then put in a toy-deprived situation…

and acted out the same behaviors they had seen.

Social Learning or Observational Learning Theory

• Bobo doll experiment• Bandura’s work showed that when people

observe behavior, they are more likely to imitate that behavior.

• So, what does this say about violent video games, movies, TV shows?

Mirroring in the Brain When we watch others doing or feeling something,

neurons fire in patterns that would fire if we were doing the action or having the feeling ourselves.

These neurons are referred to as mirror neurons, and they fire only to reflect the actions or feelings of others.

From Mirroring to Imitation Humans are prone to spontaneous imitation of both

behaviors and emotions (“emotional contagion”). This includes even overimitating, that is, copying adult

behaviors that have no function and no reward. Children with autism are less likely to cognitively “mirror,”

and less likely to follow someone else’s gaze as a neurotypical toddler (left) is doing below.

Prosocial Effects of Observational Learning

Prosocial behavior refers to actions which benefit others, contribute value to groups, and follow moral codes and social norms.

Parents try to teach this behavior through lectures, but it may be taught best through modeling… especially if kids can see the benefits of the behavior to oneself or others.

Antisocial Effects of Observational Learning

What happens when we learn from models who demonstrate antisocial behavior, actions that are harmful to individuals and society?

Children who witness violence in their homes, but are not physically harmed themselves, may hate violence but still may become violent more often than the average child.

Perhaps this is a result of “the Bobo doll effect”? Under stress, we do what has been modeled for us.

Media Models of Violence

Do we learn antisocial behavior such as violence from indirect observations of others in the media?

Research shows that viewing media violence leads to increased aggression (fights) and reduced prosocial behavior (such as helping an injured person).This violence-viewing effect might be explained by imitation, and also by desensitization toward pain in others.

Summary Classical conditioning: Ivan Pavlov’s salivating dogs

New triggers for automatic responses Operant conditioning: B.F. Skinner’s boxes and his

pecking pigeons Consequences influencing chosen behaviors

Biological components: constraints, neurons Observational learning: Albert Bandura’s Bobo

dolls, mirroring, prosocial and antisocial modeling